MONTREAL — Bell Canada announced today a three-year strategic relationship with École de technologie supérieure’s (ÉTS) innovation centre Centech in Montreal.
“As Centech’s exclusive telecommunications provider, Bell will leverage its advanced network capabilities, 5G and AI management expertise to help emerging Canadian businesses drive innovation, growth and adoption of advanced technological solutions,” reads a press release announcing the partnership.
Founded by ÉTS in 1996, Centech is a non-profit business incubator that supports entrepreneurs and helps to propel their technological innovation projects, the release explains. The solutions developed at Centech have been concentrated in the health, logistics, energy, environment and telecommunications sectors, according to the release.
Through Centech’s accelerator environment, Bell is able to partner with start-ups such as Haply Robotics, which develops 3D haptic controllers, the release says.
“The technology that Haply Robotics has developed reproduces tactile sensory inputs, allowing users to feel precisely what it is like to interact in a specific environment, for example, during remote surgeries or on screen, with a VR headset,” the release says. “The high speed and low latency of Bell’s 5G network enables real-time control and feedback for physical robots through remote-touch controls in disciplines where this was not previously possible.”
The collaboration with Centech “will help develop innovative solutions for companies in various sectors, namely health (Medtech), automation, Industry 4.0, logistics and transportation, energy and the environment,” the press release says.
“We’re very pleased to welcome Bell as a Centech partner, and therefore help propel innovation and make it possible to share knowledge and deliver projects that have an impact. And, thanks to Bell’s 5G network, we can provide robust connectivity and coverage, high-performance data transmission and above all, a secure environment for our contractors,” said Richard Chénier, general director of Centech.
Today’s announcement follows Bell’s launch last month of its new corporate venture capital initiative Bell Ventures.
“Recent investments by Bell Ventures include Boreal Ventures, a venture capital fund supporting Québec’s most promising deep tech start-ups, created in partnership with Centech,” the press release says.
Bell is also a founding partner of The PIER at the Seaport in Halifax as well as a partner of the Vector Institute in Toronto.
Image provided by Bell Canada.
